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Classical Concert chat...

If that bug carries on spreading - and it probably will for some time - I can see a lot more events being cancelled. I've no idea how bad things will get but at least we got to see some concerts. I hadn't planned on going to any more this season, but hopefully for - everybody's sake and not just mine - business as normal will resume after the summer break.
 
RSNO Friday night concerts available on their RSNO online site. Here is Beethoven 3 with ab introduction by Norrington - His views on how Beethoven should be performed!


 
I'm just back from seeing the RSNO perform Das Lied von der Erde as well as Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss. I only knew the opening to the latter so I haven't got much to say except I enjoyed the opening and then the rest of it was okay. Not my cup of tea but nothing wrong with it either.

Das Lied was a tale of two halves: the lights weren't dimmed after the intermission so it took until the start of Der Abschied for me to really settle into it. But once Der Abschied began I was totally caught up in its spell, hook, line and sink. Seriously, I was practically having an out-of-body experience, with trembling limbs and tears about to flow forth, such was the performance.

As for the tenor's vocals, they seemed close to being about right considering his part often swamped by full-on orchestration much more so than his counterpart.

What I'm keen to know is, did the lights stay on for Das Lied at the Usher Hall? If yes, I guess that means they were left on to allow the audience to read the translation of the songs in the programme. If they weren't, I guess that means somebody forgot to turn the lights off!

As an aside, the conductor opened the evening with a brief speech on the relationship between music and philosophy via Nietzsche with a focus on climate change and what we've lamentably been doing to the planet during our tenure of it as a species. I thought it worthy of applause so I started clapping and most of the audience joined in accordingly.

As an aside not once but twice, I'm now listening to this version of Das Lied by Philippe Herreweghe as transcribed for chamber orchestra by Schoenberg. It's perfect for late-night listening as it's a more intimate affair than the fuller Das Lied we've come to know and love.

I wrote the above on this corresponding Saturday last year - 7th March 2020 - and boy, does it feel a long time ago. The chaos came... and went and came... and went and came...

Hopefully, a year down the line, we're close to normality, or the new normality, rather, as I can see some restrictions being in place for some time to come. Well done everyone for surviving so far - may you all survive far longer still!
 
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I wrote the above on this corresponding Saturday last year - 7th March 2020 - and boy, does it feel a long time ago. The chaos came... and went and came... and went and came...

Hopefully, a year down the line, we're close to normality, or the new normality, rather, as I can see some restrictions being in place for some time to come. Well done everyone for surviving so far - may you all survive far longer still!
That must feel like a decade ago! The brass crescendo in Also Sprach fanfare would be regarded as a superspreader phenomenon these days.
 
That must feel like a decade ago! The brass crescendo in Also Sprach fanfare would be regarded as a superspreader phenomenon these days.

Yeah, it was a great night and now seems like a long time ago for sure. Hopefully, with a bit of luck, we'll be back in venues towards the end of the year. Mmm, come to think of it, when it does happen it'll probably be along the lines of a symphony orchestra playing for a chamber-sized audience! It'll also probably be a long time before Mahler's 2nd is performed live again but as long as we make a start I'll take it :)
 
Yeah, it was a great night and now seems like a long time ago for sure. Hopefully, with a bit of luck, we'll be back in venues towards the end of the year. Mmm, come to think of it, when it does happen it'll probably be along the lines of a symphony orchestra playing for a chamber-sized audience! It'll also probably be a long time before Mahler's 2nd is performed live again but as long as we make a start I'll take it :)
Ca you imagine the looks a coughing fit will attract in the GRCH?
 
Hi-fi has been a great solace over the past 15 months... but there ain't nothing like live orchestral music. I went yesterday to one of the CBSO's pilot season of Wednesday concerts for a socially distanced audience (600 of Symphony Hall's 2262 seats available), and it was wonderful.

The Symphony Hall stage has been flattened out and most of the choir seats removed to maximise room. This probably makes it the largest stage available to a socially distanced orchestra in the UK. The audience is asked to enter the hall at least 30 minutes before the start time.

From the stalls the three of us couldn't see the rear of the orchestra, but the sound was just as good as we remember and every player was on fine form. The strings were reduced, I think, by one desk per section; each string player had their own music stand. Harp, celeste, tuba and percussion were all audibly present and correct.

We heard Britten's Nocturne sung by Ian Bostridge, and then (with no interval) Malcolm Arnold's 5th symphony. We were at the matinee; each Wednesday's programme is being given at 14:00 and again at 18:30. The conductor was CBSO stalwart Michael Seal, and he did a terrific job. The symphony is one that I know very well - I have five recordings - yet still I heard new sounds and, in places, a vehemence which is just not reproducible at home. It was a very fine performance, and those of us there gave it as much applause as we could manage between us - it's hard when there aren't enough of you!

Then out into the sunshine, and an enjoyable meal at the New Street Wagamama before the train home... altogether a great outing :)

Let's hope that the news on June 14th is positive and that either concerts for much larger audiences become possible, or that a formal system of subsidy allowing concerts to continue to be given to limited audiences is announced.
 
Hi-fi has been a great solace over the past 15 months... but there ain't nothing like live orchestral music. I went yesterday to one of the CBSO's pilot season of Wednesday concerts for a socially distanced audience (600 of Symphony Hall's 2262 seats available), and it was wonderful.

The Symphony Hall stage has been flattened out and most of the choir seats removed to maximise room. This probably makes it the largest stage available to a socially distanced orchestra in the UK. The audience is asked to enter the hall at least 30 minutes before the start time.

From the stalls the three of us couldn't see the rear of the orchestra, but the sound was just as good as we remember and every player was on fine form. The strings were reduced, I think, by one desk per section; each string player had their own music stand. Harp, celeste, tuba and percussion were all audibly present and correct.

We heard Britten's Nocturne sung by Ian Bostridge, and then (with no interval) Malcolm Arnold's 5th symphony. We were at the matinee; each Wednesday's programme is being given at 14:00 and again at 18:30. The conductor was CBSO stalwart Michael Seal, and he did a terrific job. The symphony is one that I know very well - I have five recordings - yet still I heard new sounds and, in places, a vehemence which is just not reproducible at home. It was a very fine performance, and those of us there gave it as much applause as we could manage between us - it's hard when there aren't enough of you!

Then out into the sunshine, and an enjoyable meal at the New Street Wagamama before the train home... altogether a great outing :)

Let's hope that the news on June 14th is positive and that either concerts for much larger audiences become possible, or that a formal system of subsidy allowing concerts to continue to be given to limited audiences is announced.

Terrific news! While I do enjoy watching Mahler symphonies performed 'live' by Abbado Lucerne FO on blu ray, I completely agree it's no comparison to the real thing, a real orchestra playing to a real audience in a real venue. As such, I never bothered to catch any streaming concerts during lockdown. But hopefully, it won't be long before live concerts are back up here in Glasgow as well. Great post marshanp, it's made my day :)
 
I see that the orchestral concerts and opera are outdoors (but under cover of some sort) at the Edinburgh Academy Junior School. A slightly risky proposition in Britain, even in August.

I wonder when the Usher Hall will open again? And the halls in Glasgow? We used to make annual trips to both cities in the olden days...
 
EIF did a survey and the outdoor events idea was popular. I guess high winds or heavy rain could be a problem.

Usher Hall tickets are available from 30 Aug. None of the 'shows' are classical music though and prices are high.
 
I took a qualified risk tonight to attend a performance of Saariaho’s latest opera “Innocence” at the Aix festival. You have to show proof of double vaccination to get in and wear a mask throughout - just as well as the auditorium was packed. Average age in the room about 60, so probably low risk.

It was thrilling to hear large scale music again after such a long drought. “Innocence” is a compact (100’, no interval) but gripping exploration of grief, guilt, trauma and remorse. Ostensibly, it’s about the aftermath,10 years later, of a shooting at an international school in Finland (there were many “too close for comfort” moments for me). It also shows how a single traumatic event reverberates differently for each participant.

It’s one of the most integrated (for want of a better word) works I’ve ever seen: the orchestra, the singers, the set and stage management all merge seamlessly to bring to life (ha!) Sofi Oksanen’s story, gradually revealing each layer. The multilingual cast (incl. Kozena, Piau, and lots of young performers) produced excellent singing, Sprechgesang, and credible acting. Student 1 sang Finnish folk-based vocals vaguely reminiscent of Värttinä. The LSO (conducted by Susanna Mälkki) played the complex score sensitively: unobtrusively most of the time, emphatically when needed. It’s going to take me a while to digest all the sensations and emotions, and I hope a recording is released soon: I’d love to dig further into the music, as I certainly missed a lot of it, being utterly absorbed by what was going on on-stage.

Thoroughly recommended to all fishies interested in modern opera.
 
Opening concert of the 2021 Edinburgh Festival. One of two special venues designed to allow live performances in the age of Covid. The BBC Symphony Orchestra under Finnish conductor of Dalia Stasevka.

Programme: contemporary piece, Pivot by Anna Clyde. Respighi’s Three Botticelli Pictures and Stravinsky’s Pulcinella. It felt surreal listening to the Respighi with a breeze on your skin.
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I met one of my neighbours at the concert - this is his 71st Edinburgh Festival. He heard the Opera Company of La Scala perform the Verdi Requiem at the 1950 festival. They had to lay on a special train to bring the 270 member company from Milan to Edinburgh. He didn’t rate the concert last night and thought Stravinsky’s Pulcinnella was compositionally a bit meh. I’m not in a position to question his experience.
 
What an enterprising solution to the not-indoors-but-out-of-the-weather conundrum!

I'll be at Symphony Hall on September 16th with (I hope) a full coach load from Shrewsbury for the opening concert of the CBSO's Autumn Season. And another 7 concerts before Xmas :)
 
I met one of my neighbours at the concert - this is his 71st Edinburgh Festival. He heard the Opera Company of La Scala perform the Verdi Requiem at the 1950 festival...
My wife and I climbed Suilven in Sutherland last Monday. At a combined age of 140ish it was one of the hardest things we've done for a while.

On our way home we got chatting with an elderly gentleman at Inverness station. "You've been up Suilven? Well there's a coincidence" he said, "I climbed it myself on Saturday. I wanted to get it done before my 90th birthday in a couple of months' time" :eek: :cool:
 
A life affirming Beethoven 7 last night with Vasily Petrenko and the RPO. I had tears rolling down my cheeks in the opening bars. Isata Kanney- Mason looked incredibly young playing Clara Schumann’s concerto, written and premiered by Schumann aged 15, conducted by Mendelssohn with the Gewandhaus.
 


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